The first bench I built back in 1989 was from the Woodsmith plans - a small
magazine with a 5' bench that had storage underneath. They had a great way of
making the tail vise and dog hole arrangement, doing it in maple butcher block
style with five pieces about 3" wide. The center board had all the dog holes
dadoed, including one in the opposite direction. The boards on either side were
glued to it for strength. Then the whole assembly had 3/4" grooves cut at equal
heights, and splines were used to glue the 4th and 5th boards.


But the part with the opposing dog hole was cut off first, and floated in the
splines to form the clamping part with a steel screw. Then the front apron was
glued on, plus 3/4" butcher block top and tool tray. Overall a very easy way to
make the assembly, but not something you could really do after the fact.


What I find really neat was the reprint of the forgeron & Cie. catalogue, which
had a similar sort of assembly as a sawhorse. IIRC they called it a german
piano-maker's bench or something similar. Still want to build a pair of those
for carcass work.


Matt Turner

(whose second bench is on "Galoot-a-vision")